The admiration and respect I once had for the intellect and conviction of Michael Ignatieff is gradually evolving into disappointment. I used to admire his ability to present his ideas with clarity, but now he sounds like this:
I’ve learned that good judgment in politics looks different from good judgment in intellectual life. Among intellectuals, judgment is about generalizing and interpreting particular facts as instances of some big idea. In politics, everything is what it is and not another thing. Specifics matter more than generalities. Theory gets in the way.
Could he not have simply said “Looking at the poll numbers back here in Canada I changed my mind on Iraq.”
Update: I guess I wasn’t the only one that reacted with a “What the … ?” after reading the Iggy essay: David Rees at The Huffington Post
He’s certainly learning how to be a Canadian Liberal! Go with whatever the polls tell you, and then make your explanations so confusing that nobody knows what you’re talking about. Chretien was a master of both of these Liberal skills, and Dion is apparently studied his master carefully over the years. Iggy is probably just a quick study, since he’s hasn’t been in Canada very long, yet he’s picked up the Liberal way quite well.